Month: July 2020

As the world becomes a global village, we communicate more and more in a variety of situations. Meetings are held for staff, management, shareholders and clients. WE do business at teleconferences, seminars, annual board meetings, trade shows, and I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture about the numerous opportunities there are for you to speak in public to your audience. Those same people can be in your immediate area or half way around the world. And I suggest to you the further away they are from you the more important it becomes to communicate clearly. That way nothing is lost in translation.

As leader it is imperative that you are able to speak with confidence and clarity. It is a great advantage to have, and people will say with admiration about how well you are able to articulate your ideas and proposals. You become more empowered and are seen as a greater asset to your company Needless to say just being an effective public speaker separates you from your colleagues or competition (sometimes they are the same). Decide now not to “try” and be good public speaker, stand up and declare that you MUST master the art of public speaking because above all else YOU will benefit the most from it.

First, remember and accept that you will always be nervous before speaking. That’s a good thing when you channel your energy from a nervous state to a peak – positive state of mind. One of the things I do before minutes before my talks is repeat the following – it’s my time, it’s my time. Simultaneously I slow down my breathing, and gently rub my hands back and forth. By doing these three steps over and over it helps me to focus on what I am going to say, become confident that people are here listening to what I have to say, reinforce the fact that I know my talk better than anyone else, and I am ready to share my message. Now the affirmation or self-talk may be different for you, as well as putting yourself in a peak state. The main thing is to develop steps that will alter your thoughts from giving a speech, to speaking with authority on a topic that you are well educated on and that people want to hear you talk about.

The second point to remember is, when you stand to give your talk, your physiology must exude confidence, even if inside butterflies feel like dragons raging in your stomach. Keep your head high and walk with purpose. As I mentioned before people will pick up on your state almost immediately.

The third and final bit of advice I can pass on is, before you start to speak, take your time and steady yourself with some deep breaths. If you can sip a glass of water before hand (without your handing shaking and spilling it) then do so; that extra few seconds will not be noticed by your audience, and it gives you the opportunity maintain your peak state.

Remember as a leader people are looking to you as an example of how they themselves should act. Becoming a great public speaker takes practice, the ability to channel your nervous energy, creating a peak state of confidence, and exuding that confidence in your physiology. Again, deep breaths in, and let them out slowly. You can do it!

There are many skills and techniques you must master to bean effective communicator and instructor. Many of these skills you already possess, all that is required is that you use them to their best advantage. Others, you need to learn and practice.

Yes, it is right that we all communicate every day. We talk with our neighbors, resolve disputes, write business letters, personal greetings and make the occasional speech. How well we communicate our ideas depends on the techniques for effective communication which we employ. Here are five proven techniques for effective communication to improve your communication skills.

And here are some techniques for effective communications: It’s starts with clarity with which you present your ideas is essential. Whether you’re writing an essay or having a verbal conversation with your neighbor, you must practice clarity. To this end, strive to increase your vocabulary. Let’s say you wish to compliment your neighbor on her new hair style. “That looks good”, is not quite clear. Your neighbor may even be insulted, thinking her old style must have been terrible to evoke your remark. “I love that subtle color. It looks great with your complexion!”, is much better. You’ve made it clear what it is you like and why. 

Well, no matter what kind of event you are holding, having a guest speaker is a great way to jazz it up. I have been organizing conferences for a long time, and I always try to make sure to have guest speakers lined up. It simply gives a day some focus. After all, without a special guest, a conference is just a series of meetings and gatherings. People feel free to come and go as they please. If there is a central keynote speaker, however, everyone will try to make it. It will help you drive home the theme of the conference and create a sense of community among the different participants.

However, when conveying a more complex message, use an organized and logical approach. Here’s an example of how to put this technique for effective communication to work for you. Let’s say you’re meeting with your boss to discuss a proposed project. You should not arrive at the meeting unprepared. Take the time to sit down and order your material in a written format. You wouldn’t begin with telling him how one of your objectives should be met. You first want to state the problem which justifies the project. Then you might go into a step-by-step itemization of the objectives, how each will be met and the time required to implement each objective. You might conclude with any open issues. Your boss will surely appreciate the clarity, organization and logic of your presentation.

Perhaps the most valuable technique for effective communications is to remember that it’s not all about you. This is one of the most common errors people make when communicating. They get so involved with their own point of view that the other person feels completely left out and stops listening or reading. If you’re chatting with your neighbor and the conversation consists of what you’re doing, thinking and feeling, your communication is one-sided and self-serving.

Apparently, this leads us to the final point when you study techniques for effective communication. Always keep in mind that communication should result in an exchange of ideas where everyone learns. You, of course, wish to persuade the other party to your point of view. However, you must leave the door open to alternate perspectives. In this way, everyone benefits. Likewise, you can present your information clearly, logically and in an organized format. When appropriate, be concise. Be willing to be open to other ideas.
And as what I have read from the net, there other speakers. The one here is motivational speakers this is a professional speaker who makes speeches intending to lift up and motivate their audiences and this is the most common speakers. One way great thing about scheduling a motivational speaker is that they can arrange their speeches to handle any topic. No matter what industry you’re in, the commercial, agricultural, industrial, or whatever, you can always do with psyching up your people a little bit more. Getting your workers excited about the project they are involved in is a great way to increase productivity and send people home with a positive feeling of having accomplished something at the meeting.

But of course, there are different types of guest speakers even with in the rubric of motivational speaking. There are motivational speakers who mostly focus on self-esteem issues and building people up. This can be pretty great if you are experiencing flagging energy and need to increase energy levels among your people. Then again, sometimes it is good to schedule a guest speaker with a more specific agenda. Leadership training is also a great theme – particularly in large corporations. It is easy for people to feel lost in these types of hierarchies, and a leadership speaker can really put people back on track.

Another one here, is the keynote speaker this is someone from within your own company. As a boss, it is your responsibility to know what your managers are up to. Some of them may have talents that make them particularly suited as guest speakers in the conference. They may be outstanding speakers, musicians, or leaders in the community, or even athletes. It doesn’t matter. Any skill that you can use is a skill that you should use. Making the most of the people you have is what being a manager is all about. Use these techniques and see your communication skills improve dramatically.

Most people don’t have particularly pleasant experiences of the first time that they were asked to speak before an audience. The experience itself varies from one person to another and the symptoms include everything from sweating, shaking nervously, stuttering, bowing your head down while speaking and sometimes in more extreme cases –fainting. All these symptoms that are being exhibited are all essentially related to one thing – fear. People have an innate fear of being the center of attention. If you’re at the circus in a crowd of many and the magician performing tells you to stand so they can use you as an example, the first instinct you have is to refuse or shy away. We fear attention and scrutiny because we fear rejection by those people who are looking at us. So in public speaking it’s the same thing when you’re up on the stage; you probably scared of being the cynosure of all eyes or failing the oratory talent others staring at you expect you to deliver.

Most people who actually face this problem will treat this problem by avoiding any occasion where they have to make a public speech. This is all fine and good –if you intend to be a recluse all your life. On the other hand, if you intend to make meaningful difference in your life and in the lives of other people, you have to overcome this fear of speaking publicly. Whether you do this by reading a book, attending a course or some other such means of public speaking training is irrelevant, the fact remains that you have to overcome this fear. If you want to be a CEO one day, you’ll have to make speeches, if you want to be a President or someone in a position of power, you’ll have to learn as well.

Overcoming your fear of public speaking isn’t as difficult as most people make it seem. You really don’t need top spend a ton of money getting your way out of the fear of speaking publicly. Public speaking training is available in various formats if you take the time out to surf the Internet and search for solutions you will find them. These solutions come in various formats, from self-help DVD’s to books you can buy. You can even register for a public speaking course in the area which you live. The course you choose will ultimately depend on your lifestyle and preferences.

The costs of getting the public speaking training that you need aren’t as exorbitant as most people would think; you can get such courses on offer for a few hundred dollars or even less. Whatever the route you choose, make sure the program is renowned and capable of giving you the results that you require. Spending money on such training will be well worth it in the end because it usually involves other forms of training that will make you a whole lot more confident in your abilities wherever you may find yourself in the future.

Many years of experience public speaking, most recently for the Royal Caribbean and Costa cruise lines, and listening to a host of other accomplished speakers, have taught me how to handle a lot of curve balls.

Here are some public speaking tips from the trenches:

1. You get there and all the conditions have changed.

You were promised a projector and it isn’t there. There’s a mike, but it doesn’t work. A presentation for 20 turns out to be 100. Your talk is for 1 ½ hours instead of 45 minutes.

SOLUTION: The only solution is to expect these things and be prepared to speak under any conditions, and supported solely by what you brought with you.

2. Someone from the audience says, “Who are you?”

SOLUTION: Answer what they want to know, not what they’re asking—can you do the job. Give your credentials and experience, who invited you to speak, how they found you and what your connection to the group is. Stay with it long enough to dissipate the tension this has caused for the audience.

3. Someone from the audience blurts out, “I know that’s true because I was a victim of incest/rape. So what should I do?”

SOLUTION: This is not a question to answer before an audience. On the other hand you, and your audience, are now concerned about this person. Address both issues. Express your concern for the trauma in their past and ask them to speak with you afterwards, or to call your office. Ask them if it’s okay for you to continue.

4. You’re losing your audience. There’s no sign of life. Their eyes are glazing over.

SOLUTION: This is your problem. Stop and address it. Pump up the volume, or ask the audience why you aren’t reaching them and what you can do about it. You’ll be off and rolling again soon.

5. So far you’ve mispronounced a name, given the wrong prize to someone, spoken into a screeching mike, and a piece of ceiling tile just fell on your head.

SOLUTION: Get with the feelings. Stop, laugh, and say, “Don’t worry. I promise not to hurt myself up here.” Then continue on.

6. You show up and it turns out they’ve publicized a different speech topic than you were told.

SOLUTION: Acknowledge the situation, without blaming anyone. The last thing you want to do is accuse the host of having made a mistake. Say what’s happened, i.e., “I was prepared to speak on ‘Strengths’ and I see here I’m so supposed to talk on ‘Personality Assessments’,” which will get the audience on your side. Smile and look assured while you think furiously] Buy some time by asking them what they’d like to know about “Personality Assessments.” Then proceed, using lots of examples from the Strengths assessment!

8. The transparency on the screen is bouncing up and down (or something like that).

SOLUTION: Ask the audience why. Someone will know. (Projectors bounce on a cruise because of the ship, a seafaring attendee told me.)
CORROLARY: When someone asks a question you can’t answer, ask if anyone in the audience can. Often they can. Thank them for their contribution; no apologies.

9. Someone in the audience is trying to upstage you.

SOLUTION: Immediately address their need to be acknowledged and get attention. Ignoring them will only make it worse. Say, “Did you say you taught Learning Theory in a college? [yes] Well then I hope you’ll stay right with me here so you can help us all learn a little more. Did you have a comment on the last point I made?” Often people like this are insensitive, so if you have to simply cut them off at some point, do so, and know that everyone else in the audience knows that’s going on and is grateful.

10. Someone in the audience tells you you can’t tell them what you just said, or “That won’t work with me/on me.” This tends to come up in self-help lectures.

SOLUTION: You don’t have an enemy; you have your best ally! Agree with him, because he’s right (and has just made your point for you).

You can’t make someone’s life better until they realize they’re in pain and are motivated enough to be willing to change some behaviors, and thinking is a behavior, i.e., you can’t change someone else’s way of thinking, because that’s totally under their own control. This is the point, and they’ve just made it for you. If you use your emotional intelligence, most ‘hostile’ comments from the audience are entry points for you to drive home your point. Be gentle and know what’s going on is transparent to most in the audience.
11. Never take things personally. Anything can happen.

TIP: Attend as many presentations as you can, and I particularly recommend Board meetings, as they can be unbelievably obstreperous.

If I’m a good speaker at all, it’s because of my years as a fundraiser on the non-profit circuit, where I listened to speeches and attended board meetings and church services continually.

I’ve seen it all happen — when the co-presenter didn’t show up, when the co-speakers collided with each other on stage and fell down, when the minister had an epileptic seizure (freezing) in the middle of a sermon, when a mental patient climbed up on stage with the speaker, and when the chairman of Southwestern Bell was reading a speech and abruptly said, with no change in his tone of voice, “Oh, I guess that was the end. That’s the end of this speech.”

Watching how the many pros I witnessed handled the many unpredictable things that can happen was invaluable. They’ll give you all the phrases you need, model professional aplomb, and occasionally give you a very bad example of what never to say and do that you can also learn from.

Most of all, you’ll realize that when you’re MCing a fashion show, and the entire runway collapses in front of you … it isn’t you!

Top 7 Ways to Succeed in the Business of SpeakingHow attractive are you as a speaker? Not, your looks, but your consistent ability to provide a quality presentation, attract clients, and be irresistibly attractive to meeting planners and speaker bureaus? Below are some useful tips that I learned while owning a national, professional speakers bureau for 13 years.

1. Presentation – do you have something interesting, inspiring, and useful to share with audiences? Be mindful of your voice (keep it deep and low pitched), your personality and attitude (positive), your tone (soft, loud. Encouraging as needed), your style, your vocabulary.

2. Connection – how quickly do you get to the core of your audience’s problems and challenges? Skip what is between their ears and go straight to their hearts.

3. Passion – do you love what you do? Develop a niche or specialty that you truly enjoy … and are good at.

4. Network – enhance your speaking career by networking with 50 or more other speakers. They become your referral sources. Join the National Speakers Association – a 4,000 member organization that holds conferences and has local chapters to help you with your marketing skills and networking. Call 480-968-2552 (Arizona)

5. Products – write a book, booklet(s), create audio tapes, video tapes, CD/ROM. Having products will catapult your speaking career and make you more valuable to your clients. This “passive” income is like having frosting on the cake.

6. Value added – become known as a value added speaker. Provide handouts, attend the cocktail reception before your program, stay after your speech, offer follow-up teleclasses, offer your consulting services, be a facilitator.

7. Hire a Coach – The Olympic Games remind us that a world-class athlete is surrounded by a number of people whose function is to keep him/her on track. No serious athlete or professional speaker would expect to progress very far without a COACH. New! Do you want to learn how to give a compelling speech? Would you like to know what sets leaders apart? Are you ready to prepare a speech that hits your audience’s hot buttons?Now you can. Buy the audio CD (available as an MP3 download). “POWER PRESENTATIONS FOR PROFESSIONALS” at http://www.schrift.com/Power_Presentations_for_Professionals/

Many people have a fear of public speaking, but have to
do it as part of their jobs.  I know
first-hand what this feels like as I used to have to make presentations and I
was usually very anxious right before presenting.  Many people will actually experience mild
panic attacks before speaking in public.

So what does this fear of public speaking feel like and
how can one overcome it?  It might look
something like this:  You are a little
anxious and have trouble sleeping the night before.  You may take medication or have a drink
thinking it will help you fall asleep.  You
drink a little extra coffee because you have trouble waking up.  The extra caffeine makes you more anxious and
a bit jittery.  You review the
presentation in your mind over and over to make sure you don’t leave anything
out.  You get to the meeting and have
trouble concentrating.  Right before the
presentation you begin to sweat and your heart is pounding.  You have trouble breathing and might start to
shake.

The good thing about a panic attack like this is that it
will go away fairly quickly after the presentation.  The bad thing is that it leaves you
physically and mentally exhausted.  By
the time the anxiety kicks in it is probably too late to start it.  The key is preparing to sure the anxiety does
not set in.

Some forms of anxiety can be treated with prescription
drugs, but these should not be used if you are going to speak in public.  Many of these medications will slow you down
to the point that you may not be able to focus.

The best thing to do is get on a natural anxiety
treatment program.  This will need to be
ongoing as treating any kind of anxiety is not a quick fix.  A natural anxiety treatment may include
things like breathing exercises or meditation to help teach you how to
relax.  It should include maintaining a
good diet and getting enough sleep and exercise.  It might also include herbal treatments or
self hypnosis.

Another trick that works for some people is
visualization.  You can sit in a quiet
room, close your eyes and put yourself in the setting where you will be
speaking.  But when you visualize looking
out over the crowd, you don’t visualize the audience.  You visualize a room full of friends and
visualize the presentation being more like a conversation with friends than an
actual presentation or speech.  If you
practice this a few times, you should be able to pretend the audience is a
group of friends when you give the actual presentation.

The key in ending your fear of public speaking will be
preparation and retraining the way you think.

Public speaking or speech-making is one of the many things that is most commonly feared tasks as it requires to stand up in front of strange people trying to convince them to make a purchase if you are in the marketing arena, or simply adding something to their knowledge in a given area.Actually, there are many factors involved in determining the amount of success you receive out of performing such task. Looking comfortable, confident and relaxed are among these factors, though it’s a bit hard to achieve theses characteristics at the podium, but it’s always possible with an on-going rehearsal. The following are down-to-earth and easy-to-implement techniques that can maximize your potential to an incredibly public speaking performance:

1)     Devote some time to understand the nature of your audience. what make them want to attend and listen to whatever you have to say, what are their expectations, hopes and the result that they reap out of their attendance. It should not escape your notice the importance of learning about their background about the subject matter so as to eliminate all what they know for time’s sake.

2)     When you first stand be sure that you are projecting high self-confidence and relaxation. Connect with the audience with strong eye contact and a genuine smile, now start talk in a strong manner.

3)     I cannot stress enough the importance of eye contact and its magical influence upon the audience and the way they respond and listen to you as well as their feeling of being a part of the performance and the success you are building.

4)     Make certain that the listeners are attentive that the speech is coming to an end, this could be achieved through changing your voice to a minimal level, this will enable the audience to notice that you are making your last statement. this is of course very important unless you wish to be faced by a period of silence once you finish your speech.

5)     And don’t forget to add the miraculous word at the end of the speech “Thank you”